I got a quote from a young woman, whom I met on a scifi board website. Her posts say that she has young children at home, and her mother has just died from a very terrible form of cancer. This and other things going on in her life would be enough to drive many folks over the edge. Shortly after her post about her mom dying,..she responded to one of my posts with a comment that I must quote and keep on repeating till I wear it thin. What did she say that was so profound?

"GrandCoeur,"..as I shall call her in this blog, could say after the loss of her mother to a terrible disease;..after she faces the long days wth her young ones..(and I know just how long those days can be at times!),..and all of those other family troubles,..which she mentions in her posts,..

"Life is worth living,..no matter what comes your way!"

"GrandCoeur" does not sound like she is on the "self-pity-trip!" That statement,..original or not,..is a mouthful! I doubt that I could survive intact all of the terrible things that life seems to be throwing at her!

"Life is worth living,..no matter what comes your way!"

Shall I repeat that statement to "The Boy," thinking on his mother's death...as he sits in her old rocking chair, and holds Little Bit,..affectionately known as "Bit," the kitten and now cat,..that made Annie smile after a period of depression?

"Life is worth living,..no matter what comes your way!"

I don't know if "The Boy,"..still sitting dry-eyed and mourning his mom, would really understand the philosophy behind such a statement. He does,..I know,..understand the touch of a loving hand and a smile.

If I repeated this profound statent to my friend,.."Ro,"..who has not walked in over forty years, and who met and married twice..while she was in a wheelchair,..and took care of her three children,.and kept house,..and took in her aging parents and cared for them till they died, and took care of her second husband while he died from cancer in their home,..and did it all from a wheelchair,..never wavering,..never faltering...,..I wonder,..what would Ro say?

Perhaps I should repeat this statement to "Dan,"..who was an apprentice builder, and who fell, only to achieve the worst case of tramatic brain injury I have ever been witness to. When I worked with Dan,.he was learning to dress himself again with his left arm..as he had lost the use of his right arm and both his legs.

Dan did learn to dress himself again..even though he could not bend his body. His spine had been surgically frozen so that he would never bend his body again.

Then,..of course,..there was "Charlie," who was never supposed to talk again and he did.

And my own son,..who was so badly burned,..as a child and who was never supposed to be able to raise his right arm again. He used that arm to pitch baseballs when he was in grade school!

You know it's funny because I don't think that I would have to say that statement to any of these folks. They are living that statement right now,..everyday of their lives. They live out that statement in quiet courage and dignity..without anger,..without bitterness.

And no,.I will never be sorry that I knew any of them. I consider them an enrichment in my life-long "study of human nature!"